Duet, opus 2
by Avalon Starrider
Summary: The moment has passed, but the memory will remain...


A quick plug: This fic can now be found at Evafics.org. Check it out there, and read the other fics that this great site while you're at it!  
   
   
   
   
Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this fic. The only thing I own is the computer on which the fic was written, and even that is still being paid off. Gainax owns Evangelion and its characters and concepts.  
   
   
   
Duet  
   
   
Shinji Ikari was at peace.  
   
To those who knew him, this simple statement would have been unimaginable. Nevertheless, he was at peace.  
   
His apartment was quiet, except for the low, melodious sounds of a cello that were coming from one of the rooms. All the rooms in the apartment were empty save for one, currently occupied by the pilot of Evangelion Unit 01. His roommates were either out or tucked away in their places of rest; in one's case, a refrigerator. So, with no one to interrupt him, Shinji had decided to take out his cello and play.   
   
The shadow cast by the midday sun gave the area around the building a sense of tranquility that was rare in those troublesome days filled with battle and death. Shadows filled the apartment as well, giving it a subdued feeling that was a total contrast to the chaos that typically came with its inhabitants.    
   
In this environment, Shinji was doing one of the things he truly loved: playing his cello. While in the act of music making, the rest of the world did not exist. He and the music were one, oblivious to what was occurring around them.  
   
But, the real world wouldn't leave them alone for very long….  
   
"Geez, Third Child! Don't you know any other pieces?!"  
   
Shinji was startled out of his playing by the voice of one of his roommates. He turned his head and found a certain red-haired girl in the doorway with some bags in her hands. He then remembered that she had gone shopping with Hikari, but he had not thought that she would be back so soon.  
   
"What do you mean?" Shinji asked, a little puzzled at she meant.   
   
"What do I mean?" Asuka replied, annoyed by her roommate's thick-headedness. "I don't even think that I've heard you play anything else aside from that Bach piece. He may be from Germany, but even I get sick of hearing the same piece over and over again."   
   
"…"  
   
"Don't you know any other pieces?" she inquired as she moved across the room to look down at the boy, still carrying her bags.    
   
"W…W…Well…" the Pilot sputtered out.  
   
"Well what?" Asuka said, impatient at the boy's lack of a response. "You either do or you don't!"  
   
Shinji simply sat there for a second before he uttered a simple "No."   
   
"NO?" the red-haired German shouted. "You mean to tell me you've been playing the cello for this long and you don't know any other solos?! I can't believe that even YOU are that pathetic!"   
   
"No one ever gave me anything else to play," the pilot of Unit 01 responded with a shrug. "I never really gave it any thought."  
   
"I really can't believe it. You ARE an idiot," Asuka stated flatly, exasperated by the boy's lack of effort. She then turned and left the room.  
   
"…"  
   
Shinji simply sat there, once again confused by the actions of his fellow Pilot. After a while, he decided to return to his playing. He picked up his cello and put the bow on the strings, but soon felt a pair of hands on his shoulders. The hands proceeded to pull him to his feet forcefully.   
   
"Hey, my cello!!!" he cried out as he rushed to grab his instrument before it crashed against the ground. He carefully picked it up and put it in its case, and then turned to face his roommate. "What are you doing, Asuka?! It could have been damaged!"  
   
"Don't worry, it'll be fine," Asuka commented while she threw Shinji's coat into his arms. "Now come on."  
   
"Where are we going?" Shinji asked.  
   
"Never mind that, just come on."  
   
-----  
   
"A music store?" Shinji questioned as they approached a small building, wary of what Asuka had in mind.   
   
"Yes, a music store," mimicked Asuka as she wondered how the boy could be so dense. "We're going to get you something new to play. Now, do I have to drag you in, or are you going to go in yourself?"  
   
Shinji stepped away and started towards the store. "I'm going, I'm going."  
   
He proceeded to enter the store, followed shortly after by his roommate. The place had an atmosphere that screamed music. There were instruments placed on several shelves throughout the store, from violins to tubas, from drums to recorders. The walls of the store were lined with cabinets, with the names of various instruments written on signs placed on different sections of the walls. Immediately to the left of the door was a counter, behind which was an older man sitting in a chair, in the process of reading a newspaper. As soon as he noticed his customers, though, he put down his paper and stood up.   
   
"Welcome! What can I do for you today?" inquired the owner.  
   
"We're here to get the 'genius' here some music," stated Asuka as she pointed at Shinji, who was looking at a rack of music magazines.  
   
"Well you came to the right place," beamed the owner.  "What instrument do you play?" he asked Shinji as he moved out from behind the counter and over to where the young Pilot was standing.   
   
Startled out of his survey of the magazines, Shinji turned towards the man who had addressed him. "Huh? Oh, I play the cello."   
   
The shop owner put his hands together and smiled. "Wonderful! A lovely instrument! Let me show you our selection of solos." Putting his arm around the boy's shoulders, he led Shinji back to a row of cabinets that had the word 'cello' written on a sign above them.   
   
"Here are our cello solos. They are in this drawer and the one underneath it."   
   
Shinji quickly thanked the shop owner and moved over to the cabinets to begin seeking out some new pieces.  
   
"Let me know if you need anything else," said the owner as he watched the boy start to rummage through the drawers. He then returned to his chair behind the front counter.    
   
-----  
   
After a while, Shinji turned from the counters with several pieces of music that he thought looked interesting. He started to proceed back towards the counter, where he noticed that Asuka had just completed a purchase.   
   
"Did you get something Asuka?" he queried.   
   
"None of your business, Third Child," Asuka snapped.   
   
"Sorry," Shinji meekly said, well aware of the hazards of finding oneself on the wrong side of the Second Child.   
   
"Hmmph!" grunted the German girl, as she turned and exited the building.   
   
"Quite a girlfriend you have there," the shop owner teased with a wink.   
   
"What?! No! She's not my girlfriend," Shinji quickly spurted out as he turned to hide the blush that had started to creep up on his face. "We're just roommates…"  
   
"Oh, I see," the owner replied with a grin. He rang up the items that Shinji had picked, took his payment, and gave the Third Child the appropriate change. "Good luck with your new music!" he shouted towards the boy as Shinji left the store in a rush to catch up with his fellow pilot.  
   
-----  
   
Shinji soon caught up with Asuka, and the two proceeded back to their apartment without a single word said between them. Shinji occasionally snuck a glance at his companion, curious about what was in the bag, but quickly turned his head when he noticed even a slight movement of the red-headed girl's head. After how she had acted at the store, he didn't want to aggravate her any further.   
   
However, his curiosity did go unnoticed, but Asuka decided to let it go for the time being. After all, he still had a purpose to serve later on.   
   
Once the two reached their apartment, Asuka immediately proceeded to her room and closed the door, like she did every other day. Shinji stood and stared at the door that Asuka had just noisily closed for a second, confused by recent events. However, he knew that trying to understand her was a futile effort, and shook the questions out of his head. He then went back to the room where he had left his cello, and took the instrument back out of its case.   
   
The bag containing the recently purchased music was placed on the table by Shinji. He looked through its contents and selected a slow piece that he thought would be nice.   
   
Shinji took a moment to tune his cello and then started to read the piece that he had picked out. It wasn't technically difficult, but something about the music had appealed to Shinji. It was a somber piece, slow-moving and emotional. Shinji liked that sort of music; it seemed to fit his mood most of the time. It didn't take long until he was caught up in his playing, once again oblivious to the world around him and focused solely on the sounds that were coming out of his cello.  
   
Once he finished the piece, he sat in silence for a second but was quickly startled out of his trance by the sound of applause from right in front of him. He looked up and found that Asuka was sitting in a chair, holding a violin in her lap.  
   
"Asuka?" he asked, confused.   
   
"See, I told you that you needed some new music," said the Second Child as she looked across at him with a small smirk on her face. She then placed another piece in front of him.   
   
"What's this?" Shinji asked, now thoroughly confused.   
   
Asuka huffed in frustration, but quickly regained her composure and answered, "Another piece, obviously. I'm going to give you the honor of playing a duet with me. It's nothing too difficult, so even you should be able to play it."  
   
"Ummm… okay," the boy said, a little hesitant about the girl's intentions.  
   
"What? Can't I ask to play some music with the only person I know that plays an instrument?" responded Asuka, as she tapped her foot on the ground and glared at her roommate.   
   
Shinji shook his head, wanting to avoid any further conflict. "No, it's not that. I just didn't know that you played the violin."  
   
"Well, I do," Asuka said with a sharp tone. "Now stop talking and start playing."  
   
"Alright, alright…"   
   
Shinji quickly looked over the music. He did not see anything tricky, and looked up to find Asuka already ready to play. He nodded to the Second Child, indicating that he was ready as well.   
   
With a raise of Asuka's violin, the two Children began.   
   
At first, it was a cautious, nervous sound, with both players unsure of how to respond to one another. However, as they both became more comfortable with the music and with each other, Shinji and Asuka began to relax. The music started to change, as they adjusted to whatever the other did. Soon they were both lost in their playing, absorbed in the sheer of act of creation.   
   
As the two Children delved deeper into the piece, something began to happen. They couldn't describe it; it was a feeling, a thought.  Before they started, they were the Second and Third Children, pilots of Evangelion Units 02 and 01. And they would be pilots afterwards. But now, for this brief moment, they were just Asuka Langley Sohryu and Shinji Ikari, two people locked in a moment of music. Each had their own part to contribute, and each wanted to share it with the other. Despite their differences, they both had their music. No one, not even the so-called "Angels" that they fought, could take that away from them. Even after they finished, the moment that they had shared would remain a part of them, a reflection of a time in which they created something that no one else would experience.   
   
The two continued their playing until the piece finally ended. However, even after the music stopped, they continued to hold their instruments, still caught up in the moment. Eventually, they put down their bows and looked up at each other.   
   
"Not bad, Third Child," Asuka said, a broad, heart-felt smile on her face as she across at the Third Child.   
   
"You weren't too shabby yourself," Shinji responded, mirroring his partner's expression.   
   
"Of course, this doesn't mean that you're not an idiot, and remember that I'm still the number one pilot," declared the red-headed German with a smile still on her face.   
   
"Of course," the boy agreed.  
   
Having reaffirmed her status, Asuka stood up and returned to her room. Before she entered, she took a quick glimpse back at the Third Child. The sun was beginning to set outside, and darkness was beginning to creep into the apartment. All that could be seen in the room that she had just leftwas the shadow of the boy against the sky.  
   
"Yup, not bad at all," she whispered before she entered her room.  
   
Shinji continued to just stare at the sunset, content to let silence fill the room that was only moments before filled with the sounds of music.  
   
   
Fine  
   
__________  
   
Author's Notes: This is a MAJOR revision of my first fic. Thanks to my pre-readers LeperMessiah, Inanis_Machina, and Autophage, as well as all those who commented on the previous version.  
   
One reviewer of the previous version of this fic commented on how the scenario of Shinji and Asuka playing music together has been done before, and I do not disagree with that statement. However, I still wanted to write it. :P   
   
I wanted this to seem like it had come out of the series. No pairings, no extreme situations. It was to be just a brief moment in time for these two individuals. There was a time in the series where things seemed to be going right for the Children, and I wanted to try and capture something from that.   
   
Also, many authors have used music as a means to another end within their fic, but very few have used music as a main plot device. So, I wanted to fill that void.  
   
In addition, I wanted to create something that the Children could have in common aside from piloting and their psychological problems. Music has often been called the universal language, and I wanted to show that it this fic. These two encounter so much over the course of the series. I wanted to put them in a situation where they could share something other the death and destruction that their lives were comprised of.   
   
Now, whether I succeeded or not, that's not for me to decide. :P 


End file.
